StarCraft II - North American Players Battle for a Spot on the World All Star Team

The battle continues for a spot on the all-stars World team to face the best players of South Korea at the 2012 GSL World Championships. This year's "Korea vs. The World" event will be taking place during the IPL5 finals in Las Vegas, and only five players from Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia/Oceania can qualify to compete in the team league show match. Tonight's qualifiers features four of the best North American players in the scene.

Match One: ROOTViBE vs. EG.HuK

Danny "ViBE" Scherlong is considered one of the top Zerg players from North America, having participated in several premier events across the nation. ViBE has competed in the IGN Pro League, the North American Star League, and the USA Blizzard World Championship Series tournament, placing consistently well in all of them. Paulo "CatZ" Vizcarra, founder and co-leader of ROOT Gaming, noted that ViBE was recruited due to "plenty of unrealized potential."

ViBE began turning heads during the 2012 WCS USA Nationals, during which he charged through the winner bracket, defeating notable players such as IdrA, State, Insur, and daisuki, earning him the chance to represent his country in the WCS North American Championships. There, he again advanced to the winner bracket finals, taking out players like Goswser and DdoRo.

More recently, ViBE qualified for IPL5 via the North American Satellite Qualifiers by taking out players such as State and Golden. Tonight, he will be playing against one of the most renowned players from Canada for a chance to represent the foreign world in the 2012 GSL World Championships.

Chris "HuK" Loranger is unquestionably one of the most popular players in North America due to his personality, unorthodox gameplay, and accomplishments in both the international and Korean scenes. He was the first player to win two Major League Gaming titles (MLG Raleigh 2010 and Orlando 2011) and the first foreigner to win an event during the GSL-MLG Exchange Program. He also has won DreamHack Summer 2011 and HomeStory Cup III.

HuK often participates in the GSL. In early 2011, he qualified for Code S and participated in the GSL May 2011 Tournament, during which he defeated MMA in an Up & Down match to retain his Code S status. He remained in Code S until the 2011 GSL November when he placed third in his group, falling down to Code A.

While ViBE has been making waves in the North American scene, HuK's success is universal. The Protoss player has more experience and many more achievements to his name. HuK will take the series though it won't be a cakewalk as ViBE will put up a good fight.

Match Two: QuanticIllusion v. EG.Suppy

Chris "Illusion" Lee is the rising star of Quantic Gaming. Considered a strong Terran player, Illusion has made several impressive runs in the open brackets of premier North American tournaments. He began turning heads with his performance at MLG Providence 2011, where he placed 24th after defeating Sheth, KawaiiRice, and Spanishiwa. He was also one of the farthest placing foreigners at IPL4, taking out notable Korean players such as Zenio, Ryung, and Oz.

Though he has yet to win a major tournament, Illusion has demonstrated that he is perfectly capable of going up against and taking down some of the best players in the industry.

Conan "Suppy" Liu, also known as "Superiorwolf," is a Zerg player on Evil Geniuses. He was recruited in the summer of 2012 after showing notable results. At the MLG Spring Championship, Suppy earned the Bic Flex 4 MLG Breakout Player Award after he defeated big names such as iNcontroL, TAiLS, Dde, Killer, BlinG, and Select, finishing in the top 28. He also placed in the top 16 at the 2012 WCS USA Nationals, qualifying him for the WCS North American Championships at MLG Raleigh. There, he placed tenth after losing to his teammate HuK in the consolation bracket.

Suppy has won a number of online tournaments and LANs on the NA server, including the UC Davis Spring 2012 Open Tournament, Space Whales Super Showdown, and the NASL Gauntlet.

Prediction: Suppy 2 > 1 Illusion

The series between these two up-and-comers will be incredibly close. However, Suppy will win due to the fact that he has been showing more results lately.

Be sure to tune in to see which of these players continue their quest for a spot on the World team at the 2012 GSL World Championships.